The Hindu Business Line : NComputing targets schools with virtual/shared PCs

Hyderabad, Feb. 5 While most hardware manufacturers, particularly in emerging markets, are seeking ways to bring down the cost of ownership of entry level personal computers — like the sub-Rs 10,000 PC — NComputing, a Redwood-based tech firm, has a radically different approach to this solution.

NComputing has developed hardware and software that enables people to create up to 10 virtual/shared PCs by connecting to a PC. It has so far deployed over half a million such PCs in educational institutions in the US, Brazil, Macedonia and now plans to replicate this in India.

The company is in the process of holding parleys with policymakers and various State Governments to deploy them in schools. Its first breakthrough in India has come through a tie-up with NIIT for a major school project in the North-East.

So how does this function?

The Chief Marketing Officer of NComputing, Mr Raj Shah, said: “Research showed that most PC users barely use about 10 per cent of the PC capability and the rest goes un-utilised. That is where we decided to see how the latent processing power of PCs could be utilised.”

Citing the example of a class with 30 students needing PCs, Mr Shah said with NComputing technology, such a class need not buy 30 PCs. What they need is four PCs, and 26 three inch by three inch chip-based device, monitors and keyboard, which converts them to 30 PCs.

This is priced at Rs 3,000 and enables each student to work as if it were an independent PC. The device comes with software to be loaded on to the main PC. How is it different from a thin client used in enterprises? Thin client is costlier than this device and there continues to be some quality issues, he said. Both hardware and software, priced at about $70, have been designed and developed by distributed teams at NComputing and manufactured in Korea.

What about sub Rs-10,000 PCs? “We welcome them, as they could be used to create virtual PCs,” he said.

Are you concerned about OneLaptopPerChild (OLTP) project? No. Not at all. In fact, the cost of OLTP is still at about $170 apiece and nobody makes money in the entire value chain. Therefore, it would be difficult to make it a success at least for the time being, he explained.

Funded by Menlow Ventures, based in Silicon Valley, and Scale Ventures, a subsidiary of Bank of America, NComputing uses the concept that most PCs are powerful and a typical user uses a fraction of the processing power.

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